He’s certainly backing up his words with action…
“The image of the world’s wealthiest individual inadvertently harming the world’s most vulnerable children is deeply troubling. I wish he would visit the children now living with HIV due to the funding he eliminated,” Gates remarked to the Financial Times.
Earlier this year, Musk’s controversial DOGE project led to the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, according to Gates, causing essential food and medicine to spoil in storage. This also directly fueled a surge in measles, HIV, and polio cases.
Musk and many Republicans opposed USAID because it effectively aided impoverished communities, and, though unspoken, they seem to believe public funds should primarily benefit the wealthiest individuals.
During his discussion with FT, Gates elaborated, explaining that Musk halted financial assistance to a hospital in Gaza and Mozambique, which had previously been preventing the transmission of HIV from mothers to their infants.
Musk and other Republicans – whether due to a lack of understanding or deliberate distortion – falsely claimed that condoms were being sent to Gaza.
Musk later conceded his error regarding the Gaza-condoms claim, acknowledging, “Occasionally, what I say turns out to be inaccurate.” A statement, many believe, that is consistently true.
“I wish he would go and meet the children now living with HIV because he cut that money,” Gates reiterated.
Gates revealed his intention to dedicate nearly his entire fortune to global betterment over the next two decades, projecting that his foundation will allocate over $200 billion to global health, development, and education before ultimately dissolving.
He indicated plans to bequeath less than 1% of his assets to his children and voiced strong support for a substantial estate tax and “significantly more progressive taxation” to prevent the accumulation of “generational wealth.”
“I anticipate many criticisms upon my passing, but I am resolved that ‘he died wealthy’ will not be among them. There are simply too many pressing issues demanding resolution,” he wrote in a letter outlining his choices.
Gates suggested that the foundation’s accelerated spending could lead to the complete elimination of polio or a breakthrough in treating HIV.
“It provides us with focus,” said the Microsoft co-founder. “We’ll have considerably more resources by depleting our funds over the 20-year period, rather than striving to exist indefinitely.”
Gates also criticized Trump’s decision to nominate anti-vaccine advocate RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, stating that he “discredited vaccines, and specifically my involvement… with numerous fabrications.”
